TMNT: Crave
by princessebee
Summary: 2k14verse. Raphril. A couple of weeks after Wanting, Raphael is ready. Note the rating. The turtles are all over 21 in my fanon.


_This story contains explicit sexual situations between consenting adults and language. If you are offended by such material, or are under-18, please do not read any further._

_I hate the word 'pussy' so I use 'cunt' instead. I wish there were a softer term that wasn't too clinical, outdated or ridiculous, but if there is then I don't know it._

**ooo**

Raphael was ready.

They were on April's bed. Moments earlier, they had been seated amidst strewn blankets and pillows, she straddling his lap, grinding against him so that his cock jerked and twitched against the leather of his loincloth, desperate to reach her. Then she had abruptly broken their kiss, released his shoulders and lay back. He had let her go, his hands on her back supportive but yielding as she descended backwards to the mattress.

Now she lay stretched out before him, completely naked, her legs parted and her eyes on his, soft and surrendering, waiting his next move with calm readiness. He was overwhelmed by the willing vulnerability she displayed there, when she was so fragile and defenceless, utterly exposed and accessible to him. It seemed too great a privilege to hand him, far more than he deserved. But there she lay, like some sort of lovely flower opening its petals so trustingly to the rays of the sun, heedless of being scorched.

It seemed he would never grow accustomed to it, how absolutely she relinquished control to him, trusting him seemingly without question to do as he willed to her body, her personhood, her very soul. It was terrifying; the enormity of it, but far from putting him off it only fired him with the determination to prove himself worthy of the responsibility.

And right then, seeing her sprawled so wantonly, so expectantly in front of him, her hands in loose fists by her head, her lips parted and curved in a lovely little smile, he felt with a sudden boiling surge of desire, so fierce it seemed to scald him from the inside out, that he could not wait another moment longer; that he had to have her completely.

Shifting into a kneeling position, his palms cupped her knees, split her legs further apart as he bent his head between her thighs and softly licked her clit, sucked it, rolled it between his lips and then released it again, all to the thrilling sound of April's moans and cries. His cock strained against the bold red leather he wore around his groin, aching to be touched. Raphael did not oblige the urges of his body, however. He wanted to wait; wait to be submerged in her, to experience it for the first time with absolute purity.

Again he licked her, his massive tongue focused into a point to tease sensation from her in the precise way he had learned over the last couple of weeks was guaranteed to drive her wild, to make her so wet it seemed she had an endless spring inside her. Now that he knew what was going to happen next, everything he did was geared towards preparing her for that moment, from the way his lips pulled softly at that sensitive nub to how his enormous, calloused hands reached above him to trace teasing pathways over her breasts and ribs. April responded with abandon, her fingertips kneading the dome of his skull, her hips thrusting back and forth as she made a series of lusty noises that sounded like music to his ears. Finally, her writhing distracting to his efforts, he grasped her by the hips and pinned them gently to the bed, holding her still so he could concentrate completely on getting her over the brink.

April gasped to find herself so suddenly and completely powerless. Raphael's grip did not hurt – he seemed to be barely putting any pressure on her hips at all in fact – but she was rendered completely incapable of lifting them at all, the strength of his arms uncompromising.

And just so he could more effectively go down on her.

And abruptly it was all too much; the sensation of his tongue and lips – how quickly his skills were improving – the feeling of his powerful grip on her, being held with such gentle but firm control, helpless to his desires, and his desires being to drive her wild with ecstasy – it pushed her to the edge, sent her tumbling over as orgasm swept her body in an incandescent eruption. Her hips bucked up of their own accord only to be frustrated; Raphael's hands effortlessly pinned them against the mattress and her one, wild, rational thought was _oh God, he's not even trying_ as delirium trembled through her in relentless waves.

Breathless and shivering, April slumped back against the mattress, twitching as taunting little aftershocks ricocheted throughout her. Raphael gently kissed her belly, kissed his way in a tender trail up her abdomen and between her breasts, his weight supported by the hands now propped either side of her and finally lifted his head to hers for a deep and lingering kiss. She slid her arms up over his shoulders, intoxicated by the texture of his scales, like pebbles washed smooth at the bottom of a river, relishing the feel of scar tissue, the unyielding bulge of his muscle, her fingertips tracing their way to just under the ridge of his carapace, where his skin was especially sensitive. It was his turn to twitch but he allowed the touch and kissed her deeper, thrusting his tongue into her mouth and she felt the hard tip of his cock, separated from her by a thin piece of leather, press urgently against her wet centre and she thrust back against it, almost out of her mind with lust. Though he had fucked her often and deeply with fingers as thick as any decent cock, it wasn't enough to satisfy her craving. She had never felt so conscious of that sensitive cavity in her body before the past couple of weeks, had never felt so empty, so desperately hungry to be filled before. The waiting was the most delicious type of torture, keeping her poised with anticipation, finding herself wet and ready within moments anytime the thought of it crossed her mind, no matter where she was or what she was doing. The love they made was exciting and delirious and getting better every time but the thought of having him deep inside her, watching his face as he experienced all the ecstasy her body could give him, feeling him move within her, the speed and force of his hips as he ploughed his way to blissful oblivion, using her willing and eager body as the instrument of his pleasure – it was enough to make her clit tingle, the sheath of her cunt tighten in frustrated need.

Raphael breathed into her, deepening the kiss, his tongue hungrily probing her mouth to entwine with hers and April slipped her hands down over his shoulders and arms, shivering at the curve and dip, the fissured outline of his deltoids, biceps and triceps, her hands dwarfed against the colossal musculature, so rock hard the flesh did not yield in the slightest when she squeezed and she knew that if she just angled her hips a little higher and rubbed against the dome of his concealed cock, she would come again, and quickly, all the while with the feel of those uncompromising muscles against her palms.

But before she could begin, Raphael gently broke the kiss, pushing himself up onto his hands, prompting her eyes to open and meet his.

April was rendered somewhat breathless by the intensity she beheld in his gaze – a ferocious need blazed in his eyes and his shoulders heaved as he panted softly, thick lips parted. She recognised the sheen of apprehension in his expression – but far more, the glint of resolve. When Raphael set his mind to something, no force on earth could stop him from following through, no matter the internal conflict he may have waged in reaching the decision. It was a quality she admired in him, found deeply attractive.

"Can we turn the light off?" he asked her, his deep baritone soft and raspy, and she understood in an instant what was about to happen and her heart leapt then clutched in her chest, her grip on his biceps tightening.

She wanted to tell him that they didn't need the light off; that she would accept him as he was without question or compromise, but she knew it would not be enough to assuage him. Though his confidence with her had grown in leaps and bounds, he was still insecure and self-conscious about their differences and of course his genitalia, intimate as it was, would be a particularly sensitive area for him.

April's head swam with a torrent of feeling – anticipation and nervousness, desire and apprehension. As much as she had yearned for this moment now it was upon them the full import of it hit her like a sledgehammer and though she had thought she was prepared she was suddenly awash with anxiety, butterflies beating hard in her belly, her heart pattering frantically in her chest.

She reached a hand up to his cheek, cupped it as she gazed up into his grave eyes, intently waiting her answer. If she said no, he would know she meant that it was her who wasn't ready to move forward and she knew he would accept it, even if it would hurt him to have finally reached this point, where she had ostensibly been waiting for him, only for her to back out. Even if it would rekindle all his worst fears.

But even as she trembled at the thought of what confronting secrets he was about to reveal, she knew she wanted to move ahead, regardless. She had long accepted she had been deliriously intimate with a mutant turtle; that she was falling in love with him. He had kept himself concealed from her out of fear of rejection, disgust, alarm… unwittingly creating a mystique that very possibly belied the reality. It didn't matter. She had already proven she could adapt – at most it would be a slight adjustment and then she would find herself barely noticing the differences, except when they were titillating to her – the same as it had been with his scales and armoured plating, his huge hands and mouth.

And she wanted him. God, she wanted him.

And she smiled at him gently, stroking his cheek with her thumb, catching how his eyelids flickered at the tender caress. "Of course, sweetheart," she whispered.

Raphael exhaled in relief to hear the words. He had feared his request would make her think he had some frightening, nightmarish secret he was trying to keep concealed from her, but the truth is he just wasn't ready to be fully exposed before her – not quite yet, not knowing the differences between his body and that of human males. He trusted April, or they would never have come to this point at all, but Raphael had a profoundly shy streak when it came to matters of intimacy. He was proud of his body when compared against his brothers, and though he knew most humans would look upon him as a freak, he knew a lot of human men would kill to have his rippling, dense musculature. But he had never liked posturing or showing off, of being the centre of attention. He wore less apparel than his brothers but that was because he disliked being weighed down rather than out of a lack of modesty. He kept his groin region carefully swaddled and was as averse to walking about without his mask on as he was exposing his tail.

It would simply be easier for him to be in the moment if they were in darkness for this first time.

He reached over to the bedside table and flicked the switch on the small lamp that bathed the bedroom in a soft glow. The room went dark, illuminated only in streaks of cold silver filtering in through the blinds on the window, the never-extinguished glow of New York City. Below him he heard April breathing, slightly heavy, tight with anticipation. He had seen the look in her eyes when he had spoken, seen the realisation flood her features instantly as to his intent. He had searched her face carefully for reluctance or hesitancy as he waited the split second before she answered him. He had perceived her nervousness – felt it as her breathing had increased, the pulse in her neck fluttering – but that was only natural. He was nervous too. How could either of them be otherwise? But stronger even than her nerves was her desire. He saw it sharpen in the midnight blue depths of her eyes as she gazed up at him, reaching out a hand to stroke his cheek. She knew what she wanted. And his courage rose in response.

Raphael bent his head to hers and kissed her again as the darkness enveloped them in indigo shadows. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, her soft lips wet and warm, and her tongue flickering gently against his more probing one. As he had grown more confident in kissing he found he liked to take control, invade her mouth with his tongue, nip her lips then plunge deep and she was intensely responsive, willingly receiving his explorations. As their kiss grew deeper he once again felt the lick of fire through the length of his cock, the insatiable need that could now only be denied through April's refusal. Her soft body was pressed up against his own hard one, her legs wrapped around his waist so that he could smell her, the intoxicating aroma of her desire for him and a moment later he had broken the kiss and was shifting backwards, off the bed and onto his feet, grasping the leather band of his briefs and wresting them down.

Exposed to the air, his cock throbbed, his tail fully descended so that his engorged member protruded directly between his thighs, erect and ready for her. In the dim light from the window he could make out April's form as she sat up in the bed, waiting for him. And he knelt on the mattress and stooped over her, large hands slipping around her waist, her skin silky against his rough callouses, her hair soft and fragrant as it tickled his wrists and forearms. His mouth found hers and she kissed him back hungrily, their breathing heavy and thick with lust, her hands sliding up over his arms. He loved the sweet feel of her tiny palms smoothing across his scales, the fragility of her grip no matter how hard she tried to squeeze and he took her by the waist and lowered her back against the bed. The scent of her was strong and he knew she lay with her legs splayed. His cock twitched as it sensed the proximity of her cunt, their bodies seeming to call to each other in waves of magnetic heat, impossible to resist.

Then it was April breaking the kiss, cupping his rough face in her hands, panting a little as she spoke:

"Can I touch you?"

The question took him aback for a moment. Somehow, he had not expected it, though if he thought about it then of course it seemed a completely natural request.

For her to take him in her hands and caress him, stroke him – his cock swelled further at the thought despite the apprehension that beat against his ribs. Her hands would immediately identify his differences, leave him vulnerable and at her mercy.

But her voice had been thick with desire, with hope, with need and it stirred his own desire, enlivening fantasies he had never dared let himself have. He wanted her to touch him. Trust, sometimes, was akin to stepping off the edge of a cliff and hoping the other person would catch you at the bottom. Raphael took a deep breath and dove.

"Yeah," he whispered into the darkness and in response she pressed her lips to his once more.

He shifted to lie beside her on the bed, his upper body angled over hers. Her hands ghosted down his plastron, causing a prickle of sensation to sweep through him, rocketing ahead of her touch, straight down through his tail and into his cock. He caught his breath as her fingertips teased out the ridge of his lower scutes, seeming to pause there for an interminable moment and through the fog of anticipation he wondered what prompted her hesitation: the desire to tease him, or to tease herself; a last moment of doubt or uncertainty.

A moment later her slim hand encircled his cock, the pulse of intense sensation wiping his mind completely blank and he shuddered, arrested mid-kiss as his body was flush with the pleasure and intimacy of an unfamiliar hand taking his most sensitive organ in its gentle grip.

The moment her hand slipped over the smooth, moist surface of his shaft, April's cunt pulsed involuntarily. The feel of it – thick, hard and slick – in her hand was overwhelmingly erotic and with the proximity of his lips against hers, his breath hot against her, his hovering bulk above her, she was swept into a silent frenzy of desire. He was too thick for her to encircle completely with one hand so she lowered the other to join it, rewarded when he hissed in a strangled breath, their lips just grazing each other. She squeezed, gently, and her cunt tightened again when it proved as unyielding and firm as his muscles. Raphael seemed frozen in place, his breath beating against her mouth in little gusts, one of his huge hands grasping her gently by the hip. Experimentally, she carefully slid her hands along the length of his cock all the way to the head, which flared into a bulbous tip. A low, guttural noise rumbled from Raphael's throat as she stroked him and she couldn't help the little quirk of her lip at the sound, her nipples peaking with pleasure. She wished she could gaze into his eyes, see the play of expression and feeling in their golden depths as she fondled him, but she knew that would come, in time. For the moment she contented herself with kissing him softly then gently tracing her fingertips over the sensitive head of his cock, feeling the moist little slit at its very tip, the pulse in her loins speeding up in fierce anticipation. He was huge – much larger than she had ever had before and even as it excited her she wondered if her body could accommodate him. God, she hoped so. Her cunt felt more and more like a yawning cavern the longer they delayed, aching to be flooded with him.

April slid her hands back down his shaft, one slipping to the underside and finding the thick, rigid vein that ran down the middle, her fingertips tracing it down to where it led between his thighs. His cock twitched in her hands and another raspy noise ripped from his throat, his forehead pressing hard against hers and once more she wished she could see the expressions that played across his face. Again she ran her hands up, noting that the head seemed to flare more than a human male's but apart from that, and the natural lubrication his cock seemed to produce, she could not discern any greater difference. She had already guessed his cock was concealed internally when not erect and her tenderly exploratory fingers could not locate the presence of external testicles. Her apprehension eased but her curiosity further piqued by what she felt, April ran her fingertips up and off his cockhead, lightly, teasingly, two or three times, then grasped his cock between both her hands and stroked him in several long, firm motions as his breathing intensified.

She felt the surge of lust from him as tangible as the rock hard flesh in her hands, a hot wave of desire that washed over her and left her gasping as his grip on her hip got tighter, as he thrust into her hands, as a low, throaty growl emanated from him and her craving for him abruptly swelled in response, panting into his mouth as he was stirred by instinct into action, nipping her lower lip lightly, and even as gentle as he was she could feel the frenzy that threatened to erupt hovering just below the surface and her fervour crested as her loins flooded with molten heat.

"April," he rasped ardently, pushing her flat on her back and she spread her legs wide, her hands releasing his cock to fly to his shoulders as he shifted.

"Now," she heard herself beg him in a strange, strangled voice and he rolled on top of her, nudging her legs further apart with his knees, the tip of his cock suddenly pressing against her wet centre and they both gasped to feel it, her inner walls undulating in anticipation, in wanton desire.

Raphael had propped his weight on his forearms and then his hands were delving into her hair, cradling her head gently between them as the shadowed outline of his head lowered towards hers as though he were trying to find her eyes in the darkness. He bent so low she thought for a moment he wanted to kiss her but then his breath was ghosting her cheek as he whispered to her:

"Are you sure?"

And something like a ragged sob tore from her throat as she threw her arms around his neck and strained to pull him down against her, her heart thundering in her chest as she pondered the insane direction her life had careened in, where a mutant turtle with no sexual experience cared more for what she wanted than any human man she had ever been with.

"Yes, Raphael, yes, yes, yes," she whispered, her voice huskily pleading, and pushed her groin against him.

The tantalising heat of her wetness enveloping the tip of his cock nearly drove Raphael out of his mind. He had never felt anything like it before, had never expected that he ever would. But he had to hear her speak her desire; had to be _sure_ before he invaded her body that it was what she wanted.

And even when she practically cried into his ear and strove to pull him closer, he forced himself to move slowly, to ease himself into a body that was so small and fragile against his own, swallowing against the molten tide of his yearning for her. Though it might seem like a wonderful dream, it was all too real and he knew he could not simply push himself into her in one hard thrust. Not without hurting her and the mere thought of that was enough to cool the fire that tried to drive him forward.

The second he felt her tight opening stretch willingly to accommodate his girth, the hot slick muscle slipping over his cockhead and causing delirious sensation to reverberate through him, he knew he had no choice but to go slow anyway. Any faster and he would humiliate himself; it would be over in seconds the feeling was so intense, so rapturous. Raphael paused, still cradling April's head in his hands, his lips pressed to the curve of her soft cheek, profoundly aware of every inch of her body against his from where her hands gripped his shoulders to how her breasts flattened against his plastron to her toes curling against the marginal scutes of his carapace. She had tensed a little, he could feel the resistance around him and suddenly he needed to be able to look into her eyes, see straight into their depths and all that she was thinking and feeling, before he could continue.

And his arm reached out and fumbled in the darkness until it found the switch on the bedside lamp.

The dim bulb cast a soft golden glow across April's beautiful face, her eyes widening a little in surprise at his action, their blue depths glittering with feeling and utterly naked, caught unawares as she was. He was momentarily captivated by them, gazing into her and entranced by what he saw: desire, yearning, anticipation – trust. Complete and unwavering trust. Overwhelmed and unable to resist, his head bent to hers and she met his kiss with fervour, opening her mouth willingly to his, her hands running up his broad shoulders to his neck, cupping the base of his skull.

Raphael felt April relax around him then and slowly, carefully, he inched in a little more, his passage smoothed by their combined slickness and April clutched him tight. He broke the kiss and looked at her face. Her lips and cheeks were flushed pink, her breath hitching as she stretched steadily around him, her eyelids fluttering and through her thick dark lashes she gazed back straight into his eyes, the passion he beheld there leaving him as disarmed and vulnerable as if he had been stripped of his weapons and thrown hogtied into the midst of the Foot Clan.

Again he paused, letting her grow accustomed to him, the tightness of her around him making his cock throb with need, making his blood roar in his ears, making his breath catch with every tide of pleasure that tugged through him. As torturous as it was, he shut his eyes and relished the feeling, the slow, languid course of their bodies joining, treasuring every jolt of pleasure that urged him to move faster as a single irreplaceable moment that only prolonged the overall experience. Again, their lips met in a hungry, searching kiss, sending new waves of sensation through him, every inch of him seeing to have been profoundly awoken and sensitised. Again he felt that beautiful, sweet succumbing of her body to his and again he inched in. April gasped lustily into his mouth, her tongue slick against his own, as he slid home, his plastron brushing her pubis, her legs split wide and wrapped around him. As he eased down he felt her cunt clamp down hard around him, just once, the same instant a choked little noise escaped her throat and deep within his loins he felt the threat of his own climax pulse in response. Raphael tilted his head back and looked down at her, his breath coming in long, ragged pants. April took his face in her hands and brought his forehead down to hers, her eyes seeming to bore straight into him.

"Fuck me, Raphael," she entreated him, her voice little more than a hoarse whisper and, reeling with bliss, he shut his eyes and surrendered.

April had never felt so absolutely filled before in her life. She was stretched to her limits but Raphael had been so careful, so gentle in easing his way into her that she did not feel the least bit uncomfortable or strained. The powerful, heady eroticism of his tender progress had her poised on the cusp of orgasm, her clit hard and desperate for touch and sensing the proximity of stimulation, the feel of him gliding slowly and steadily along her inner walls stirring the abundant nerve endings there so that she reflexively clenched. This was what she had been craving – after he had finished with her she would never be satisfied with anything less again.

She gazed up into his amber eyes, delighted he had switched the light back on, wondering at all the passion and feeling that shone raw and naked there, underscored by care and concern – all for her. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen and she marvelled that it should be hers, all hers. His rugged, inhuman but utterly masculine face with its square jaw and flat nose was alive with expression, more perfectly vulnerable than she had ever seen him before, his thick lower lip soft and trembling, making her want to kiss him and kiss him until the feel of his mouth was imprinted permanently upon hers.

She felt his cock pulse within her and couldn't stand to wait anymore. She begged him to fuck her and something in his eyes broke before he pressed them shut and began to move within her.

April gasped as he slowly withdrew his cock and pushed it back in, unprepared for the sheer potency of the feelings his enormous girth elicited from her tender sheath. A low groan ripped from his throat as he moved and she gripped his shoulders hard as once again he thrust, her body frantically producing more lubrication in its excitement to be so utterly consumed.

"Raphael!" she gasped, the only coherent sound she was capable of, burying her face in his neck and biting down as his thrusts continued to undo her, slowly picking up pace.

Raphael was lost in euphoria, his hands thrusting into April's hair, the feeling of her small teeth sinking gently into the thick muscle of his neck only prompting his hips to speed up, though he strained still to not go too fast just yet. Her body was accommodating him but he knew he couldn't dare risk losing control, no matter how hard and hot the yearning in his cock hammered.

He had never imagined it could be quite like this – the pure bliss that enveloped almost the full length of him, the tight caress of her muscles massaging his cockhead tantalisingly, urging him to plunge deeper and harder into her. It was only with the greatest restraint that he kept his pace steady and slow, forcing himself to stay attuned to her body for any hint of resistance – she was so tight around him he knew there could be a danger if he got too carried away.

April moaned raggedly into his neck as he gasped and buried his face in her hair, his hips rocking deliriously. She grew slicker and so did he, the lubrication further easing his thrusts, her body relaxing yet more around him, still intoxicatingly tight but with an ease that encouraged him to speed up, to thrust harder and she cried out against him in unmistakeable ecstasy and her nails dug into the hard muscle of his shoulders. He was delirious with rapture, beginning to think this might just be some blissful dream after all because surely such pure ecstasy was not truly possible. His arms framed her, his hands twining in her hair and his mouth sought hers out hotly, searing a trail across her face until their lips joined and their tongues greedily entwined.

April felt the encroaching approach of her orgasm as Raphael kissed her, his cock now plunging freely, quickly into her cunt, which had adjusted to his size with astonishing ease as though her body had always been awaiting his, his plastron gliding rhythmically against her hardened clit, the friction made not just bearable but euphoric by their mingled fluids, so abundant they had been liberally spread by Raphael's ecstatic thrusting. He was quietly grunting as he fucked her, his face contorted with bliss and though she sensed he yet held back, she felt utterly plundered and unmade.

He shifted a little, causing the angle of his plastron rubbing her clit to change ever so slightly and suddenly, it was upon her – orgasm ricocheting furiously through her body, making her cunt clamp down on his cock over and over, sending waves of ecstasy crashing over her and she was barely aware of her own scream as her legs tightened around his waist, her heels grinding against his costal plates, helpless to do anything but ride out the fierce pleasure that consumed her.

Raphael heard April gasp, felt her arch up and then she was crying out defencelessly, the rhythmic and intoxicating clench of her around his cock signalling that she had reached her climax even as her nails dug into his deltoids, her head tipped back, thrusting her breasts with their swollen nipples up against him. As her orgasm ebbed she simply panted, her head lolling back against the pillows, her neck and face flushed with rosy colour, her lips parted and her eyes fluttering shut even as she still clung to his shoulders. She was a spectacular sight, breasts heaving as she gasped, her beautiful dark red hair strewn over the pillow, twined around his fingers, and as she collapsed back against the mattress he felt her body yield once more to his in perfect relinquishment and he sped up one more time, the force of his eager, reckless thrusts prompting her eyes to snap open and lock onto his, her mouth dropping open in amazement.

He felt his own climax building swiftly, steadily as her beautiful sheath gripped his cock, pulling endless eruptions of pleasure from the tender glans. April cupped his face in both hands and stared into his eyes, plunging deep into them even as hers invited him to do same, their midnight blue depths welcome his submersion within her. And he just had time to marvel again that what was happening was real and his and then he was stiffening as orgasm crashed through him in a vicious tide of euphoria, bliss ripping ragged moans from his throat as his cock pumped seed deep inside her. It seemed to last an eternity and yet as it waned it felt devastatingly brief, his body twitching with aftershock as he cradled April carefully in his arms and breathed into her hair, pressing his eyes shut as he tried to delay the cruel end of this ecstasy.

Raphael held her tenderly against him, though he did not permit his full weight to bear down on her and April trembled and quivered in his arms, her body tingling with the sense of having been profoundly altered. She pushed her face into his neck and inhaled him deeply, the delicious scent of his sweat suffusing her senses so that she reeled and grew giddy. Within her, she felt his cock begin to soften and retract and she moaned with the loss of it, feeling empty without him inside her. The experience had been so intense that she found herself suddenly teary, overcome with emotion and in desperate need of further comfort and she turned her head, her lips fervently seeking his.

Raphael mourned the retraction of his cock as it left the warm haven of April's body, leaving him with a lingering sense of incompleteness even as the afterglow of his pleasure hovered about him. Within his arms, April shifted, her face turning to his and he met her kiss eagerly, the tender play of their lips making his heart hammer against his sternum as he was overwhelmed by his feelings for her, an unexpected lump rising in his throat.

As Raphael tenderly kissed her, April sighed in relief, soothed by their intimacy. Their kiss came to a sweetly lingering end, their lips pressing softly over and over, her fingertips smoothing his cheek, his hand stroking gently through her hair. April opened her eyes and stared into the golden pools of his, burning with his passion and intensity, and her heart swelled painfully.

_Oh God, I love him_, she realised with a desperate surrender. _I love him._

Raphael's brow furrowed with concern as he gazed down at her stricken expression, suddenly fearful he had hurt her. "Are you okay?" he queried her, voice breathless with anxiety and a flicker of confusion darted across her face before it cleared and she was reaching up to kiss him soothingly.

"Yes, I'm fine," she said with soft sureness. "I'm fine. I'm just – " and she hesitated, her eyes darting back and forth across his face, the cornflower blue orbs glittering with something he thought he recognised but could scarcely believe was possible, something that made his heart skip several beats then clutch, that had his breath stuttering. " – that was just – so incredible." And then those lovely eyes welled with tears and she laughed a little, shyly. "I'm speechless."

Raphael shifted his hand to her cheek and gently grazed his knuckles across her soft skin, wondering as she closed her eyes and leaned devotedly into his touch. "Me too," he murmured, bashful to even admit that much but feeling her frankness deserved in kind and she smiled at him, her eyes so raw and open with feeling it felt somehow more intimate than looking upon her naked body.

He eased himself onto his side, lying close besides her, gathering her into his arms where she curled up willingly against him, her head cushioned on one colossal bicep, her palms pressing gently against his plastron. He cradled her as though she were the most precious being on earth, gazing down into her lovely face as she gazed back up at him, her expression soft and transfixed, as he struggled to comprehend the full enormity of all that had transpired between them, hardly able to believe this brilliant, beautiful woman had chosen him, of all that she had gifted him with. And he was suffused with fierce determination above all else to protect her, to hold her sacred and safe.

April's heart thrummed with her newfound knowledge as she curled up against Raphael, his powerful arms embracing her close and making her feel secure and protected even as she suspected she was anything but, now carried along helplessly on the reckless tide of her potent feelings, fearful of being dashed and ripped apart at any moment by the relentless crush of reality. She loved him. She couldn't help it. She had no say over it. And though she knew he felt deeply for her, she did not know if he felt the same – if he was even able yet to untangle the threads of his emotions from the muddle of all that he must be dealing with – his first relationship, his first sexual experiences, the conflict of their species and what it meant in his life, a life lived in secrecy and below ground – it was a lot to process. April mused as she gazed into dark golden eyes that flickered wonderingly over her face, his lips soft and expression tender and vaguely dazzled. Love was a reason to celebrate, not something to keep suppressed or guarded and yet April felt compelled to do just that, fearful of what impact a declaration might have on him, when everything was still so new and exploratory and especially coming after an experience so intense they were both still quaking slightly, both hushed and raw. It might feel akin to an ambush; might disrupt the awed vulnerability of this tender afterglow.

So April kept her peace for the moment and tried not to let the spectre of possibility spoil the simple, heady pleasure of twining her limbs with his, of lying guarded and treasured in his arms, inhaling the musky scent of him as her tenderised body settled sweetly, her cunt still tingling from the transformative experience that had been him within her. Instead she reached up for him and drew him down into a kiss so sweet they sighed against each other and Raphael pulled her ever closer, so close she felt they might merge, soft skin into bony plating, a symphony of scales and hair, muscle and flesh, and simply let their bodies sing to each other as they desired, without words or premeditation, the most natural and instinctive of communions.

April knew, for now, it was enough.


End file.
